Toreros cruise past Valparaiso

USD’s top receiver, running back and wide receiver failed to contribute a single yard of offense in the final 24 minutes of their conference opener. But considering their efforts helped yield five touchdowns for the Toreros in the first half, they didn’t step on the field, either.

USD romped Valparaiso, 51-14, at Torero Stadium Saturday, where the lead was 37-0 by second quarter’s end. The Toreros punted just once through those first 30 minutes, scored on every other possession, and gained 319 yards to Valparaiso’s 72.

Coming off a close loss to Harvard one week prior, this was just the pick-me-up the team was looking for. And while USD (2-2, 1-0 in conference) clearly overmatched its opponent Saturday, a sense of complacency didn’t seem evident.

“We’ve had some good moments throughout our non-conference schedule, but we’ve had some moments where were slipping, and that set us back,” Toreros coach Ron Caragher said. “We wanted to come together, play four strong quarters with good execution and I think we really did that.”

Quarterback Mason Mills threw for 242 yards and three TDs on 17 for 20 passing, Kenn James ran for 128 yards and a score on 12 carries, and Sam Hoekstra had 133 receiving yards and a touchdown on five catches.

The Toreros keep a specific stat for “explosive plays,” which, according to James, encompasses any “game-changing play” occurring on either side of the ball. Saturday was replete with such moments.

Hoekstra had catches of 52 and 43 yards, the former coming on a 5-yard pass from Mills which was taken for a touchdown. James had rushes of 39 and 35 yards, although neither resulted in a touchdown.

Mills reacted with surprise when he saw his stat line, not realizing he had performed as efficiently as he did. The QB did, however, envision something like this coming.

“The last couple weeks, our offense has really been clicking on a lot of our basic routes, we’ve had high completion rates,” Mills said. “This time we were kind of spot on. It carried over.”

Lost in the highlight reel of a football game was USD’s defense. Valparaiso’ s first six drives ended as follows: punt, fumble, punt, fumble, punt, interception. On the day, the Crusaders (0-4) finished with just 34 rushing yards, and while quarterback Eric Hoffman did throw for 284 yards on 34-of-55 passing, just 92 of those came in the first half.

Darrion Hancock added 66 rushing yards for the Toreros on 11 carries. D’Angelo Barksdale had four receptions for 29 yards, and Reggie Bell had three catches for 38 yards.

USD has a bye next Saturday and will continue Pioneer Football League play against Drake in Des Moines, Iowa.